Hill of Doves: Background and Review

Wargame on the First Boer War 1880-1881

Hill of Doves is a solitaire wargame from Legion Wargames and designed by Godfrey Bailey. It is focused on the First Anglo-Boer War from 1880 to 1881. It uses a combination of strategic, operational, and tactical level boards that represent each day of the conflict. To appreciate the game fully an understanding of a bit of the background is in order.

Historical Background

The First Boer War was a conflict in Transvaal (modern-day South Africa) between the Boers of Dutch descent and the British Army. This was a rather short, lopsided series of battles between December of 1880 and ended in Spring of 1881. To understand the conflict and the roots behind it. You have to go a little further back in South African history.

Cape of Good Hope

Originally, the Cape was established by the Dutch East India company in the mid-1600s. It served as a port for vessels traveling to and from India back to Europe. As the colony expanded farmers (Boers in Dutch) moved inland and began to establish homesteads. During Napoleonic wars in Europe, the Netherlands lost the rights of the colony to Great Britain.

As British colonists started to pour into the colony the Dutch resented British rule and customs and eventually moved farther inland and established new colonies. British at the time let them go and even formally recognized these new colonies as an independent.

Escalation and Annexation

In the 1860s diamonds were discovered along the Vaal river near Boer territory. This fueled the British to expand business and influence into the Boer Republics. Simultaneously, the Transvaal Republic was in bankruptcy from lack of tax collection and under threat of war with the neighboring Zulu Kingdom. British annexed the colony in 1877 to little resistance, at the time the British were fighting the Zulus so the Boers while, not happy had little choice but to accept British rule.

War Breaks Out

By 1880 the Zulu threat had ended and the Transvaal Boers had become to resent British rule. War broke out in November of that year when the British tried to seize a Boer wagon as payment for taxes. The Boers fought back and drove the British off, shortly after on December 16, the Boers declared independence.

The Boers had no formal military, but utilized a system of “Commando” much like the minutemen of the American Revolution. Most Boers were farmers and ranchers and used to hunting game for food. They understood the importance of marksmanship and concealment. The Boers sized the British outposts by surprise in December and by January. Sir George Pomeroy Colley, governor of neighboring British Natal massed a column of approximately 1200 men to try and relieve the besieged forts.

Historical Outcome

The historical campaign was an absolute disaster for the British. The Boers though outnumbered, were expert marksmen, and trained to hit with each shot and accurate from several yards away. They also were masters at blending into the countryside, while the British still marched in formation and wore bright red uniforms, making them easy targets.

Over the course of several weeks the British were harassed by the Boers several times, supply convoys coming from Newcastle were ambushed, British attacks were thwarted, and hundreds of soldiers killed.

Finally on February 26, 1881 the Battle of Majuba (meaning “doves” in Zulu) Hill the biggest British loss occurred. Under the cover of night Colley marched 400 men to the top of the hill up rough terrain. Thinking they were secure the men dug no trenches or fortifications and even began taunting the enemy below.

The Boers using fire and advance techniques that were uncommon on the battlefield of the time, advanced on the position and began picking off the British one by one until panicked the British made a hasty retreat. Colley himself was shot and killed during the confusion.

The British government realized by this point that any hope of winning the war would take substantial reinforcements and at the time were not seen to be worth the cost. A peace treaty was signed on March 23, 1881. In the treaty Transvaal was allowed self-rule while still recognizing the queen’s nominal rule. The peace would not last long however. Another mineral deposit in the form of gold would be found in 1886 which would renew British interest in the area. By 1899 war again would break out leading to the Second Boer War.

Game Overview

Hill of Doves is a solitaire game that is very unique in many ways.

1. The topic: First Boer War is one conflict seldom covered in media and especially wargaming
2. Scale: The game features 3 boards: Strategic, Operational, and Tactical
3. Card Assistance: The game uses the “Stuka Joe” card assisted system. In this system there is no player aid, but a deck for each phase and each card is a step that gives the basic instruction (and chart if needed) and references the rule if needed

I’ve already covered the topic in the background so I’ll move on to discuss the other unique elements.

Game Scales

While the units in the game all represent companies, Hill of Doves has 3 maps each with different scales of both time and distance. Through the course of the game, you will bounce between the boards as you work through the conflict. At first, I was worried this might be confusing, but I’ll cover a bit later how the card decks for each board make this relatively easy to follow along. First however, I’d like to cover each board and phase of the game.

Strategic Board

The strategic map shows the Natal coastline and road heading to Newcastle into Transvaal. Here you see the state of your besieged forts, the week, and track the political temperament of the engagement. This is the board you will spend the least amount of time on as the time scale is 1 full week. Here you will sweat as your reinforcements move slowly from Durban along the coast towards Newcastle and Ft Amiel. Here each hex represents 36 miles.

This board has many markers that show auto loss conditions:

• If you do not break through Liang’s Neck to reinforce your outposts by the end of 12 weeks you’ll automatically lose
• The political level reaches the end of the track, signally British acknowledgment of Transvaal independence, you will lose
• If all 7 of your outposts fall (usually through events or eventually sieges during strategic phase) you will lose

The hardest part of this is watching the turn marker slowly move towards the arrival reinforcements from India. The Naval forces start the game, but each turn you roll for how many spaces you move 1, 2, or 3. So this means it will take a minimum of 2 full weeks, but likely longer for reinforcements to arrive. You’ll see later why this is so tough. When this column arrives in the Newcastle space you transfer the units to the operational board into the Ft. Amiel holding box.

Operational Board

The operational board is the “lifeline” of the game. It represents units and supply convoy leaving the safety of Fort Amiel and arriving at Mount Prospect and the location of the British forward camp. The British set up camp in an area called Liang’s Nek. It was a narrow pass between the mountains leading into Transvaal from Newcastle and strategically a place that was an easy target for Boer commando units to target the British column.

The operational board time scale is measured in days and each hex represents 1 2/3 miles. On this board, you will track the day of the current week, as well as weather conditions. The Transvaal consists of plains and during rainy seasons mud made travel very difficult as shown by the movement modifiers on the board.

The other major use of the operational board is where you load the supply wagon each week. In this game supply rules are very literal as you must roll for each type of supplies: Food, rounds, artillery shells, scattershot (for artillery in close combat), medical supplies, herds (for mounted troops), and rockets for rocket companies.

For instance, not only do you load supplies, but you must then assemble a column from the Fort to then escort the supply train to the camp. If there are no units housed at Ft. Amiel, you can send a column from the tactical map at the British camp back down to the Fort.

However, this means that you must take troops out of the field to serve as an escort which is one of many parts of tension for the game. If your operational column reaches Mt. Prospect, all units transfer to the Tactical camp holding box and all supplies to the supply track. This is vital to keep your fighting units in supply, refit, and armed.

Tactical Board

The last mainboard is the Tactical Board. This is where the bulk of your actions will take place. Here the time scale is measured in hours and each hex represents 1000 yards. It is here the simple objective of the game is revealed. To win the game and beat history, the British must capture and hold all 10 objectives on the tactical board.

This represents the British control of Liang’s Nek from which they can proceed to relieve the besieged forts through Transvaal. This happens by maneuvering tactical columns into assault positions and attacking the Boer forces which are unknown due to their expert concealment.

For each column, you launch you must determine its formation and then place order markers in each objective. Then if you have multiple assaults launched you track time as each column marches towards an objective. You alternate rolling to see how far the column marches each hour, but you must reach your objective before sundown at 8pm or the column returns to camp.

Assuming your tactical column arrives in time, you record when each column arrives in the time box and resolve them based on the order in the day the assaults happen.

Battle procedures

When an assault is resolved commando several units are chit drawn based on several modifiers such as your unit’s formation, type of objective, how many Boer locations are nearby, etc. Next, the combat factor of the Boer troops is tallied with additional modifiers, any artillery is resolved, then British combat factors are tallied. A quotient of British firepower vs. Boer Firepower is calculated, with any remainders dropped. This quotient will determine the result of the battle.

As a result of two and, the Boers are routed without any British losses. A roll of zero the British are fully routed, EACH UNIT must take two hits, artillery units are captured, and the column must fall back to camp.

A quotient of one is more difficult to resolve. It means the British take fire and must roll one d6. If you roll a four, five, or six then each unit firing takes one hit, but the Boers fall back and you take control of the objective.

Where combat gets tricky: on rolls of one, two, or three you are forced to retreat. You can alternatively try a “cold steel option” which is a bayonet charge. You commit any forces including your reserves, you make another roll and if successful you drive the Boers off and take 1 hit. If you fail, you still retreat but each unit in the cold steel charge takes 2 hits vs. the normal 1. So this is a risk vs. reward option.

The other thing that happens in all battles is that each unit participating deducts ammunition from the supply. This means that you must strategically decide how many units to bring to fight as well as how many assaults you perform per week. If you are ever attacked and there is not enough ammunition to deduct that unit may not perform in combat.

Unit losses

Your units have 3 states:

• Full strength combat units
• The first hit you flip the counter and your unit loses one combat factor, mounted units become dismounted and artillery units become manhandled
• A second hit or a hit on a reduced unit puts that unit in the hospital. They are then placed back in the box they originated from (British camp or on the operational board the Ft. Amiel box) hospital space. These units cannot move until the end of the week on Sunday when you can use what medical supplies to first remove the unit from the hospital, then if healed to recover to full strength. However, if hospitalized early in the week they will need to remain there until then.

Losing battles

I cannot however stress the following: YOU DO NOT WANT TO LOSE COMBAT. Each time the British are forced to retreat several things happen:

• You mark on the strategic board 1 victory for the Boers
• The political track advances two spaces
• Later in the round you must roll on each objective you hold that isn’t secured to see if the Boers ambush you. Each Boer victory grants a +1 modifier to that die roll greatly increasing the chance the Boers will ambush you, or your operational columns heading to and from the fort to camp.

Ambushes are bad. Usually, you will be outnumbered, meaning more losses, meaning the political track moves closer to your defeat and of course an even greater chance of more ambushes. This creates an out-of-control spiral that is difficult to recover from.

Impressions

I had a blast with this game. So far I’ve played three times and though I’ve lost each time, I feel like I’m making a little more progress each time. It gives you an open sandbox with a ticking timer to try and see if you can beat history and win the war for the British. But make no mistake, any of the following result in immediate loss of game:

• The strategic time marker beyond March 21-27 week
• The Political marker advances to Transvaal independence space
• The British Camp is overrun
• The Pretoria outpost falls

This means you must do several things. Press the fight, you have a set number of weeks to win; win all your battles as each loss advances the political marker 2 spaces; defend the British camp without overextending; make sure that Pretoria doesn’t fall. Combined this makes a difficult puzzle to solve.

Learning the game

The rules come in the set of three different books:

• Introductory Book: Contains description of pieces, vocabulary, and background
• Example of Playbook: Complete setup, and example of play
• Rule Book: breakdown of rules for each phase of the game.

Instead of a printed sequence of play, the game uses a numbered deck of cards for each board, as well as a separate deck for ambush procedures. To play you start at the 1st card in the Strategy deck. Then flip each card and it will give a quick instruction as well as rules reference for more detail. Complete that step and then go to the next card. Some cards might direct you to another deck, or skip ahead several cards.

This functions like a tutorial, flow chart, and player aid all at once. Steps that involve dying rolls and charts, the chart is printed on the card in most cases (some are on the board instead like the load wagon chart.)

Events Deck

Not mentioned yet is the event deck. At one point during each day in the operational phase of the game, you roll a d6 to see if an event happens. Most of these events are not good. Things like raids that will automatically rout one of your outposts, fever hitting a camp, storms delaying the Indian reinforcements from arriving, or mandatory ambushes make up the vast majority of the deck. Of the thirty-eight cards in the event deck, only six are positive cards for the player.

Events only trigger on a die roll of a six, but if you go the day without pressing an ambush, there is a +1 to each event roll.

Strategy

The secret sauce of this game is the open sandbox format, coupled with resource management, and a bit of push your luck threw in. You might decide that you want all those reinforcements from the Indian column to arrive so the first several weeks you will just not attack. However, the chance of pulling a Boer Raid card in an event would be high.

Alternatively, you could decide to go on the offensive first, march as many units to the camp early, and take as many early spots as possible. However, you’ll run out of ammo quickly and be a sitting duck for Boer ambushes.

The trick of the game that I admit I’m still finding, is that balance. You have to keep some pressure on or the Boers will pick you off, but if you get too aggressive you won’t be able to hold positions. Again once you start losing battles, the chances of ambushes rise considerably.

Small Details = Big Narrative

Another factor is some of the small details baked into the game. If your British general leads a cold steel charge he might be killed. You can choose to perform a night raid and catch Boers without support but without artillery cover or possibly end up disorganized and each unit taking a hit.

Other options include how many units do you leave to garrison an objective? The winning condition is to hold all of them, but as you leave forces back to garrison that means less to mount the next assault.

I also like the supply rules in the game. Many games have supply lines to ensure units don’t take losses, but here you have to count ammunition, then send a patrol back to escort each supply train to camp without it being ambushed and picked off. Units hit need to consume medical supplies, and your troops need to eat. All of these decisions will help you understand the ebb and flow of warfare.

There isn’t always a battle every day. Sometimes you have to hold and wait because you just don’t have the manpower or supplies to press forward yet, but in the waiting, your enemy grows stronger.

Criticisms

No game is perfect and Hill of Doves is not without some hiccups. The first one is the card driven system. I found that it was very useful in learning the game, however once I understood the steps I would have preferred a small single page flow chart vs. flipping through cards. This is especially true on days where you do not launch assaults as you will flip several cards without doing anything.

You might flip 6 cards to roll an event die and get nothing, then flip 4 more cards and reset the operation deck, advance the day marker, and do that again. It can feel a bit of grind in those times.

The other nitpick is some of the proofing of rules and cards. There were a few times where term consistency isn’t the same. A card might say British routed, but the rules might refer to a retreat. A few times I found myself going back and forth trying to figure out what was going on as a term didn’t match. Luckily these were relatively minor and didn’t impact my understanding the game much.

The last complaint is the described length of the game. It is advertised as a game you could play throughout an evening. From my experience that would be a rather long evening. If I were to guess I’d think that games lasting 2-3 hours would be easy to achieve, maybe more if you were slow going.

I have the luxury of a game table that I keep set up and played throughout several nights after work so it wasn’t too big of a deal but that might not work for everyone so be cautious.

Closing Thoughts

To sum up I think this is a great game for anyone that enjoys hex and counter tactical solo gaming. This covered a topic I knew nothing about and was very much a sandbox game where I really felt like I was the general having to maintain my supply lines and camp, plan out individual assaults, decide on when to go offensive vs. defensive, and how much I should press my luck.

This is not a game for someone that isn’t ready for several hours, or for someone that doesn’t appreciate a rather brutal game where many things can go sideways quickly: You could pull the Crack Boer counter with its single 5 firepower, you might draw an event card and have the Boers ambush your camp when it is unguarded (one of my losses ended that way), or you could make a bad roll during the negotiation stage of the strategic phase and see the politics marker go up.

All in all, though this is a fine game from Legion Wargames and Godfrey Bailey. It’s so unique on so many levels that I’m very happy to have it in my collection as it is something that really doesn’t have much to compare it to. The three boards and their phases represent a clock, just like you see clock hands moving at different speeds with seconds, minutes, and hours. You’ll see your progress across these three boards advance at different intervals. It gives such an interesting look at an interesting war and definitely something I look forward to exploring more. This one is a big recommend from me!

– Russ